Adolescent Mental Health in a Migrant Context: Evaluating the Moderating Roles of SES and Family Support in the Netherlands

Abstract

Amidst increasing global migration, the mental health of adolescents with a migration background has become a pressing concern. However, there is ambiguity in findings regarding the relation between having a migration background and adolescents’ mental health. Differences in socioeconomic status and family support among adolescents with and without a migration background may contribute to these variety in findings. Therefore, this secondary data study seeks to clarify the relation between having a migration background and mental health of adolescents in the Netherlands and whether SES and/or family support moderate this relation. Cross-sectional data from the 2021 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey were used for this research. The sample consisted of 7,254 Dutch adolescents with an average age of 13.9 years. Adolescents with a migration background turned out to have more mental health problems (B = 0.35, p = 0.01) than their native counterparts. Additionally, SES is found to be a predictor of this relation for those without a migration background, indicating that higher SES leads to fewer mental health problems. However, this positive effect of SES is not present for adolescents with a migration background. Family support did not turn out to act as a buffer. These findings highlight the importance of considering contextual factors that act as a buffer on the relation between having a migration background and mental health. Additionally, it highlights the urge to act in a culturally sensitive manner so that the cultural differences among diverse types of migration backgrounds can be better addressed.